Arrasate shows Real belief as United come to town

Real Sociedad de Fútbol may not have a point in Group A but coach Jagoba Arrasate believes they can beat leaders Manchester United FC at the Anoeta. "If we do things right, we can win," said Arrasate, who has been heartened by his side's improved domestic fortunes. United counterpart David Moyes has seen his own team's Premier League form improve and is hoping the visitors' European experience will work in their favour once more.

• La Real will be eliminated if they lose, and a draw will not be enough either should Bayer 04 Leverkusen beat FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

La RealJagoba Arrasate, coachIf we do things right and get close to our game plan we can win. This is the only thing on our minds. United have qualification in their sights and are playing away from home so we don't know how they'll approach [the game]. We have to try to play our normal game and take the initiative – if we can get close to doing what we want and do our jobs well, as we have been doing, I think we can get the better of United.

We've improved our league form – we've got more points and more goals now, so in that sense we are more confident. But I don't know if it's enough to close the gap with United that we saw at Old Trafford. United were superior in England although I think we can do things better.

They are the reigning champions of England, they have great players. I don't know if people are less respectful than they were or if they've been more ambitious against them because Sir Alex is no longer there [but] we know they're a very tough opponent. We respect them and we're really excited about trying to put in a good performance and beat them.

• La Real's third Liga win in four games – and their biggest in Spain's top flight since April 2003 – lifted them up to seventh in the standings.

Team newsEsteban Granero is a long-term absentee after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on matchday one. Iñigo Martínez recovered from a strained hip flexor muscle to feature at the weekend.

UnitedDavid Moyes, managerI feel we're playing better and getting some good results to go with it. Long may that continue. I won't take anything for granted. I have a lot of respect for Sociedad. We have to play well if we're going to get those ten points, which will get us over the line. We've got ourselves into a good position in the group and we have to try to maintain that. I think our experienced players have shown they're used to the Champions League and that's shown in the games. I hope that continues.

[On Adnan Januzaj] He gets kicked up and down in training every day. But he gets up. He has learned from the good professionals that he has got to get on with it and accept it. He only needs to look at Lionel Messi, who is probably the best in the world at getting kicked, getting up and getting on with it and continually producing magic all the time. I am not in any way comparing him to Lionel Messi but I am saying we hope the way he gets up after he has been kicked is the way Adnan continues to behave.

[On Javier Hernández] We need Javier. He's very good for us. He's scored a lot of goals over the last few years and he continues to do so, so we'll continue to use him. He scored a couple of good goals the other night [against Norwich City FC in the League Cup]. Hopefully that continues.

• United made it three wins out of three since the home game against La Real. Antonio Valencia scored his first league goal of 2013/14; Van Persie got his 128th in the English top flight, overtaking Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as the league's top Dutch scorer.

Team news The Fulham win took a toll in terms of injuries. All three half-time substitutions were injury-related and Jonny Evans (back) and Rafael (ankle) have not made the trip to northern Spain although Tom Cleverley (double vision) has recovered. Michael Carrick should return from the thigh injury that kept him out on Saturday. Danny Welbeck has not played since 19 October because of a knee problem.

Match fact • La Real are looking to avoid a club-record sequence of four straight defeats in Europe

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